Realized I've been posting these without a disclaimer... it is in the thread description but yeah I don't own worm, not making any money off of this you know how this works, and again it is in the description so I'm considering the matter closed.

Grind 2.6

My feet had scarcely touched the carpet before Vista had warped her way over to a target range with a stack of rocks next to it. The PRT trooper followed at a not space warping pace. Vista spread her feet and pulled her hands up in a martial arts stance, took a deep breath, and threw a punch. The rocks remained unimpressed and motionless. She launched into a series of blows trying to get some kind of result. Sadly those attempts were no more successful than her first.

I opted to sit down and watch as a pouting Vista surrendered her place at the range to the trooper who removed his helmet and appeared to be attempting to projectile vomit… a moment later I realized he must be trying to breathe fire. Sadly his attempts were no more successful than Vista's.

"Sorry. I guess it doesn't work for other people." I said as I walked over. Vista was visibly grinding her teeth. "I'm not giving up yet. Maybe I got metal bending." Vista disappeared only to reappear next to a metal wall. Taking a moment to center herself, she struck the wall with a viscous open handed strike. The loud smack of flesh on steel and the string of profanity which followed told me that Vista was not going to be throwing metal around a battlefield.

I reached out with my newest power and drew water from a bottle sitting by the range next to the rocks. Vista muttered darkly from where the Doctor was examining her had. I suppose I should have been launching icicles at the target downrange but right now I wanted to play with my new ability. I formed the water into a sphere and made it circle my head with an idle twisting of my wrist.

Dennis, wearing his costume, chose that moment to walk into the testing room carrying, of all things, a rose. "Taylor, your back, that's great. I went out and got this for you." I lost my focus; needless to say the water I had been amusing myself with fell, on my head. In front of a boy who, apparently, had just bought me a rose.

A quick motion of my hands drew the water out of my outfit and back into the water bottle. "You got me a rose?" I asked trying not to squeak.

"Yup, here." Dennis said as he ripped of a petal and handed it to me.

My rose! Was he trying to make fun of me? I swear if he was messing with me I was going to… "Come on Taylor, eat up." Dennis said, interrupting my train of thought.

"What?" of all the things he could have said, I wasn't expecting that.

"Mario. " Dennis responded, like he expected that to explain everything. I spun my hand in a circle.

"What about Mario?" He would have to give me more to go on than that, and he had better have a good explanation for why he expected me to eat my first rose from a boy.

"You grow when you eat mushrooms, so I figure if you eat a flower you can throw fireballs. I did a little searching online and rose petals are edible." That was his reason? My first flower from a guy and it's for power testing. This doesn't count, as of right now this does not count. This isn't allowed to count. I pulled down my mask excepting the petal and started to chew. It tasted sort of bland.

"So now what Dennis, I just focus on fire and throw a punch?" Dennis tilted his masked head to the side reaching up like he was about to scratch at his head before letting his hand drop back to his side. "Maybe? It's your power, you played the game. I thought you would know."

Of course, so it all comes back to me. I looked down range at the target; I opened my hand and thrust it forward. Sure enough a ball of fire maybe seven or eight inches in diameter came out of my hand and bounced down range until it exploded against the base of the target. "Well that worked." I mumbled.

Vista appeared by my side a moment later, and gave the singed target an appraising look. "Fire bending would be a lot stronger." I glanced down at the senior Ward.

"Probably, but I might actually be able to use this non-lethally." The younger girl grimaced.

"I guess so."

I tried to launch another fireball but nothing happened. "One petal, one shot. This is a really inconvenient power." My new teammates snorted at that.

"Maybe but now we need to go bug Battery." Dennis said.

"Why?" Vista and I asked.

"Because she's the only one around her who knows how to bake, so unless you want to try eating million degree hot gasses we need to go make some star cookies for more testing." Dennis said making a lip smacking noise behind his mask.

"That's an interesting idea and all, but I think it's time I took Taylor home for the night." Dad said, smiling from the doorway. When did he get there?

"Dad, can't I stay a bit later, it's only… um what time is it?" I glanced between Missy and Dennis. Missy only shrugged while Dennis scratched at the back of his masked head.

"Well you and Vista were in there for a little over two hours, and you finished filling out the paperwork around six thirty. So, almost nine o'clock, I guess."

Dad nodded. "I get that this is all exciting and new, but I need to get you back home. You can come back tomorrow and do all the training and testing you want, but right now it's time to head home."

I didn't really want to head home. Nine wasn't all that late and I knew the wards patrolled after nine, but I could come back tomorrow. "OK, bye guys I'll see you tomorrow." The two Wards said their goodbyes and the trooper, formerly known as Iroh, lead us out. I stopped in a small changing room to take off my cloak and mask before joining Dad in the lobby and heading home. My dragonets had already stepped between back to the house.

"So kiddo what do you think?" Dad asked giving me a cautious glance as we drove home.

"Their nice Dad, I think this was the right choice." I idly sniffed the rose I had picked up on my way out of the testing room, and smiled.